The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-07-09
!at with the projection of a National

tnat WIN lne prOJectlon OF Nat1onal
organization of labor there would have
gone determination to begin the inn
provement of the existing situation by
taking hold of and dealing resolutely
with question the settlement of which
is so completely in the hands of those
Immediately affected. In all the mat
tiers which involve the relations be-
tween labor and capital settlement is
retarded by conflicting interests and
by the fact that neither of the parties
can decide for both. But this is not
the case as regards the drink evil.
Here Labor has the first and the last
word. Here it is independent. Here
it can determine the future for itself
without awaiting the consent or agree
ment of any other interest. And how
powerful on behalf of sobriety would
the Knights of Labor and the unions
prove if they put this great vital issue at
the head of their programmes; it they
| showed the country and the world that
they meant TO begin reform by casting
away the most costly and mischievous
burdens that rests upon their shout
| ders
Mr.. Powderly said in his speech at
Lynn: ".In one Pennsylvania county in
single year S17,0 900 was spent for
liquor, and it was estimated that $11,-
000 900 of the amount came from work.
ing-men." That may very be well a
| Just estimate, for it has been calculated
that between $400,000,000 and $780,
600, 900 yearly is spent upon drink by
the working-men of the entire country.
| The mere statement of these figures
has perhaps little effect, yet they pos
sess u strong significance, and the
question they seem to suggest most
emphatically is this: How can the lead
ers of Labor think they are directing
it to practical ends so long as they re-
frain from dealing directly with a
waste which even now surpasses in an
nual amount all the gains in increase Of
wages the most Sanguine can antici-
pate during the next twenty years?
Looking at the matter solely as one of
profit md loss, how can any practical
man hope to bring Labor up to the
plane of natural possibilities while it is
being drained of its resources by the
saloonP If tinancier were asked to
take charge of the business of a great
firm which was running behind, and
discovered that a full third of its in
come was spent upon drink, and were
told that this outlay must not be GUS
tailed or stopped, but that he must find
some new source of revenue to make
up for it, what would he think of the
wisdom, and how would he estimate
the prospects, of that firm?
Yet the worling-men' leaders seem
to think that, though the drink evil is
formidable enough to demand occa-
| sional remonstrance and denunciation,
| it is not formidable enough to be made
the object of organized action. This is
grave error of Judgment. Facts and
| figures prove that American labor suf-
| fers from no external influences a 1.-THE
of the harm which it inficts upon itself;
and it is equally clear that this self
inflicted injury often paralyzes its eff
. forts to obtain release from the bur-
dens which are imposed on it from
without. There are not many situa-
tions in which the sober man is not
master of his future. There are no
conditions so favorable that they may
not be neutralized by intemperance.
To the drinker opportunities are use
less. Thrift and drink are incompat-
ible, and without thrift the highest
wages in the world will not bring COM
| petence or assurance against perjury.
There could be no nobler, more prac-
teal aim for the great Labor organiza-
tons than crusade against the drink
evil. That, indeed, would be an Anti
Poverty Society which undertook to
liberate the working-men from this
curse. No course so absolutely certain
| to elevate, to enrich, to strengthen,
those devoted to it, could be conceived.
The organization. the machinery, is
ready, but where is the self-denial, the
| aspiration, the enthusiasm to adapt it
I to the desired end? 1t is not enough
to breach the subject here and there,
however earnestly it be treated. If
any thing is to be done to stop the fear
full waste of capital, health, character,
life itself. which the drink habit en-
tails, there must be a great Temper
ance movement within the ranks of
Labor. Where is Peter the Hermit
who will preach this CrusadeP-M Y
Iri5une.